Grandson Garrett

Our Grandson Garrett graduated from High School, and we all celebrated at Lake Tapps with him. It was a great day visiting with family.  He was accepted into the Electrical Trades program, this is a 4 year on the job with some classroom studies program.  Great for him that he will be getting paid while going to school. Now if we could convince one of our other grand kids to become a plumber we would have it all covered.
Nothing like work and a paycheck to make you happy, I don't think that he realizes it but he will be working for the next 50 years.  

 

Garrett with his Dad and Mom

Rudy helping out

Cassandra and Herman

Ostergards

Mom (GG)

 Mark visiting with his Cousins

Dave and Julian talking golf

Sister-in-laws

Nancey's Grandson Jordon

Tom and Mamie

Porter Clan

Doug the Cook

Hot-Hot-Hot

Hot-hot-hot- and no it is not the weather, Marilyn has come to town in a huge way.
You can all tell from the smile on Herms face that he is feeling good, and after a quick peek up her dress he is feeling real good.  He reported that she is wearing lace underwear.
This huge statue  will be in Palm Springs for the next year, I think they should find a permanent home for her here after all this is were she was discovered.
She was in Chicago, but they found her a bit tacky so they are sending her on a road trip and Palm Springs is the first stop.  She is the tallest thing in Palm Springs.
We have had a couple of 115 days, on those days we go out early and stay inside in the afternoon.  I am still golfing but tee off time is 6:00 AM.  Getting lots of knitting and getting caught up on inside work.
We are hoping to leave here July 1st, it would be best to leave with the doctors blessing but Herm is ready for all this to be over and will leave with or without permission. Just don't know what he will do with that tubing coming out of his arm.He is still going in for his daily IV infusions.
One of the things that I have been doing is planning our 50th wedding anniversary.  We have decided to do a family cruise with our kids and grand kids and anyone else who would like to join us. It is a Alaska cruise departing July 16th 2013, the more the merrier. 

A New Experience

My favorite blogs to do are while we are traveling  on the road, it is fun sharing the sights and the experiences that we have while RVing. I sure don't want to be a blogger about our aches, pains and our latest illness.  But  I am learning you can always make a change in plans and your wants.
To start with Herm is going to be just fine, by the end of summer this will all be forgotten and I will be writing about fun things again.
It all started when I told him to start wearing his sandals  because his legs are really brown and his bare feet look like he was still wearing white socks.  First day he gets them sunburned and a week later the sunburn is itchy and he scratches.  The mistake and lesson learned is don't mess with the water from the swamp cooler while wearing sandals.  The water is stale and full of bacteria.  That is how this started and now he has a staph infection.  He goes in daily (even weekends) for IV antibiotics. He does this at a infectious disease clinic, his time to go everyday is at 9:30AM and it is the same 20 people there every day. All of them are there because of a staph infection and many have Mrsa, one lady drank water from a stream and now has a bug, many of them are because of joint replacements and one man from a dental implant.  I think Herm is the only one there because of a sunburn.  They go back to a big room and sit in a recliner and get their drips and visit or read. One thing that often is brought up is "how great the doctor is" I sure hope that he is great. Dr. Y's. first treatment plan was 2 weeks of daily visits, Herm is now starting week 3 and will not be finished until July. I just hope that Dr. Y.  does not extend it again. Herm told Dr. Y. yesterday that he would like to go to Oregon.  Dr. Y. looked him in the eyes and said "they could never handle this there".  I guess he thinks Oregon is still the wild west.  Dr. Y does not have a lot of charisma and talks very little.  His only interest is in bugs, so much so that he even looks like a big bug with his shaved head and dark bushy eyebrows.   We will listen to his advice because he is the expert and do what he says.
The good news is that yesterday they changed the medication, usually Herm comes home and goes to his chair and spends the day.  It just wipes him out and upsets his stomach.  Yesterday he was noticeably different in a good way he seemed to have more energy. 
I have wanted an I-Pad forever, and but I need to come up with a list of what it can do that my laptop does not do. Being an only child I always think of me first and I thought I could take this buggy mess and turn it into something good for me.   In the bug clinic it seems like all the patients are sitting there with their I-pads and lots of Nooks and Kindles too.  I asked Herm that since he is going to be spending several more weeks doing IV's that he should have and would certainly enjoy an I-Pad.   He saw through that and knew what I was up to, he know me to well.  But I think that he may like a poor mans version, so maybe a Nook or Kindle would be nice for him. 

 Herm is not contagious and can do pretty much what he likes, but no golf.

Spring Is Here

The weather has been perfect and we have been busy enjoying it. We have been spending lots of time hiking and golfing and sometimes just sitting and resting on the patio.
Two weeks ago Mark, Charmea and kids came for their Spring Break.  We had so much fun with all of them.  Charmea wanted to get in some exercise on her vacation, so we took them on my favorite hike.   I think that they enjoyed it, but we were all dragging the rest of the day.  I was proud of Hermie and Casey not once did they complain.
Other than a hike we spent the rest of the time close to home, everyone seems happy just to come and golf and relax and for the girls a little shopping.
This past week Doug, Vicki and Rudy came for their Spring Break. Garrett stayed home this year so he could work, he is finding out that being 18 is not easy.  Now he is expected to work and pay for his gas and entertainment.   We are lucky to live in a place where the kids love to come and visit, I think that it is the golf and sunshine.


 
 One of our Social Club functions this year was a fashion show. It was a huge success, they served us a great lunch with wine while showing us the new Spring Fashions.  My friends were in charge of putting this event on and they used women from within the community to do the modeling. They also had four of us do "What Not To Wear", I was the one that did what not to wear to a Country Club Luncheon. We shopped at the thrift store for our duds and mine was so tight that I could not even sit and my hips were sore for two days from my exaggerated swing from side to side. I did have to gulp down a couple of glasses of wine before hitting the runway. 


These are the tasteful fashion ladies along with our handsome escort Rick

 ,
This picture is of our hiking group taken last Tues.  We have so much fun and really enjoy our hiking buddies.


This is our family hike, we had some great views.

All trying to hit that crazy ball, if they would only make the cups bigger

Doug is cooking breakfast outside, and driving the golfers crazy with good smells.

Rudy The Rock Star, climbing rocks in Joshua Tree National Park

Rudy #1 thing that he wanted was a In-N-Out Burger, he was able to visit it two times.

It looks like I have some black Frames, I don't know how to get rid of them. Always some Issues

Chairlift ride up the mountain at from sea level to 8800ft

Cold but beautiful

John and Carol are now on their way home, we had a wonderful time while they were here. After visiting us they went on to Lake Havasu and to Yuma with a quick stop back to our house to pick some lemons and grapefruit.  They left here with their pickup loaded with fruit to take home, that was the only down side of the visit.  While picking the fruit Herm fell off the ladder and scared Carol and John.  But with Carol being a nurse she jumped right into her care-giving role.  Herm was knocked out for a few seconds but quickly jumped up when he realized that she was going to call 911.
He is just fine, only a few bruises but luckily no broken bones and no concussion. He always tells me he is just like a cat.  I was not there to see this (thank goodness) when he is not looking that ladder will be going down the road to someones else's home.
While John and  Carol were here so was my a girlfriend Georgie. We were girlfirends in high school and every year she comes down to dog sit Coco. Her friends have a very nice home here and they only trust Georgie to take care of Coco so they fly her down while they go on vacation.
It works well for us because we get to spend time with Georgie too. Georgie's grand daughter Annie also flew down and the six of us had a wonderful time and had fun cooking in this this beautiful home.

Herm & John feeling right at home

 n

Georgie, Annie Carol & John at our house

No this is not our back yard

We all enjoyed the huge kitchen

 
 Coco knows that we don't belong in this house, and she is not to happy about it.

outdoor kitchen

No Snow Here

 

Things are nice and sunny here, brother Bills timing was perfect. We enjoyed his visit and hope that he will come back again next winter.  I can't beleive how fast the time flew  by, I had booked his trip for 10 days thinking that would be plenty, we ended up extending his ticket  for a couple of more days, besides he did not like the idea of flying on Fri.the 13th.  He seemed to take to desert life just fine, he visited Yuma and than on to Lake Havasu and back to Palm Desert.
By the time we rolled out of bed he had been up for a good hour and had the coffee all brewed, and would be sitting out on the patio.  The house always seems a bit empty after the company leaves, but Gayle and Dave will be here tomorrow and we are all ready for them.  After unexpectidly losing one of Herms younger brothers last Spring we value our time with family even more, and I am so lucky to have such wonderful brother and sister-in-laws. We always have lots of  laughs and good times when we are together.
Bill went home in shorts and a  warm jacket, to bad he was going home to snow.
I hope that the NW soon gets some warm weather, I feel bad for those of you who have no power. My Mom is snuggled in at the lake with no power, but she has her wood stove going and a house full of company. Lucky for her that she has the wood stove and her house is 84 degrees, because she is able to still cook and is busy making soup for her friends and neighbors.

 Just before going to the airport, Bill is picking oranges and lemons.

His suitcase was full, so I gave him this colorful rainbow straw bag to use for a carry-on.
He seen the humor in it but was just fine carrying this bag full of fruit.

Giving Thanks

What a wonderful and fun Thanksgiving we had, Mark, Charmea and our three Grandkids spent the weekend with us.  They all left yesterday and the house seems so quiet, we love it when our house is bursting with family and friends.

On Saturday Herm, Mark and Herman Jr. went on a off road adventure tour. They experience more adventure than they expected but all arrived back at the house with no marks.  They had just left the main road and were free wheeling over the dunes when the steering arm broke and they immediately started doing donuts. These were not planned, thankfully it did not happen while they were driving down hwy111, they could have been hit by a on coming car. So out in the desert they wait until a working buggy can come and pick them up. They did enjoy the tour, besides a little hill and rock climbing they visited the windmills and the white water river also they drove along the San Andreas Fault. The driver entertained them with off color jokes, I guess he thought this would be OK since it was him and 3 guys. At dinner Hermie was still laughing at these jokes, he sure enjoyed his "Men's Day Out."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                 Waiting for help

Pops and KC making their wish from the turkey bone. I hope that KC's wish comes ture.

Its A Wonderful Life

 
My usual blogs are about family and when we are in the desert and away from our family I find that I don't have anything that is blog worthy. But that usually does not stop me from writing, looking back most of the things I write about are not blog worthy.
This weekend we were with family, Terry & Julie came up for a few days from Yuma. Julie and I sold our crafts (or at least some of them) at the Holiday Craft Fair.  We had a great time, I think that I may have spent more $ than I made. But I came home with a lot of things that I could not live with out. I have some new yard art and several bracelets along with a new apron.
Today is the first day of golfing in our community, I can't wait to get out there and play.  Below are pictures of Casey, she is just like her grandma she loves to golf too. But fortunately she knows how to keep her arm straight and is a very good golfer.  She is a freshman and was chosen to play on the Varsity Team. She will be here for Thanksgiving and I hope that she will help me out with my game.
I played with her at a big course, and she started giggling when she caught me teeing the ball up out in the middle of the fairway.  I  was not used to all that yardage and that was my only hope

 

 




 

Have not blogged in a long time, that means life is quiet and running smooth. In about 11 days we will be leaving for Palm Desert, we will take our time going back. It is time to go home, the grandkids are back in school and everyone is working and we had to turn on our furnace last night. 
These last few days we have been busy getting everything taken care of like Doctor visits.  "Hate it when they say you are doing really well for your age." I hope he does not think that we are old. I bet I would not hear that if I went to a doctor older than me.

We pick up our mail once a week and yesterday a small check $117.00 came, somehow it did not get put in a safe spot. Today while shopping at Costco, (picking up a few items so we can avoid CA. sales tax) I realized that I had not seen the check. Herm said no he assumed that I had pocketed it for some extra money since we will be close to the Lucky Eagle this weekend. Like I would ever blow a $100.00 at a casino.  My limit is $20.00 unless I am feeling really lucky then I might add another $20.00 and lose $40.00.  I figured that I must have put the check in the garbage and I had just taken the garbage to the dumpster. After being gone for about 3 hours I knew that I would have to get into the dumpster to retrieve the check.  First thing was to freshen up my makeup, I told Herm that I needed to look my best before my dumpster dive. I did not want to be mistaken for a bum.  All went well and check in now in Herms wallet. When I handed the check over I told him that I was really SMART, just in case he might be thinking that was a really stupid thing to do. After I explained that only a smart person would realize in the first 24 hours that the check was missing and it would take weeks before a airhead would wonder where that check went. He chuckled and said he did not see it quite like that.
Some pictures I took this summer:

Mt. Rainer at lake Tapps

Multnomah Falls

Our Old Houseboat Neighborhood

The highlight of my summer.Rossman Family Reunion

Joan & Judy

Our Summer Home